Stuart Dallas: Chris Wood was wrong to leave Leeds for Burnley

Leeds star Stuart Dallas wants to prove to Chris Wood he made the wrong decision

New Zealand hitman Wood bagged 30 goals for the Yorkshire outfit last season, but then rocked them by quitting Elland Road in a £15m transfer deadline day switch to the Clarets.

Winger Dallas and his Championship table-toppers travel across the Pennines to take on Wood’s new side tonight.

And they are intent on a Turf Moor triumph to embarrass the Kiwi and his fellow Leeds deserter Charlie Taylor.

Left-back Taylor hooked up with Burnley for £5m in compensation after snubbing a new contract and refusing to play for Leeds last term.

Dallas, 26, pledged his future to Leeds by penning a three-year deal in the summer and reckons Wood should have stayed to spearhead a promotion push under new boss Thomas Christiansen.

The Northern Ireland international said: “I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but there is more to life for us than Chris Wood.

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“I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but there is more to life for us than Chris Wood”

Leeds star Stuart Dallas

“But he has gone to the Premier League, and Charlie decided to take the same route. That’s their choice, and good luck to them.

“But we need to go to their place now and show them that they made the wrong decision by leaving us.

“Players come and go, that’s a fact of footballing life. It will be good to come up against the pair of them, and it’ll give us extra motivation to turn them over - although they might be thinking the same way, too.”

Ironically Dallas, a £1.9m purchase from Brentford two years ago, might have joined Wood and Taylor in heading through the Elland Road exit door after struggling for game time under former chief Garry Monk.

He revealed: “I was probably coming into this season fighting for my career here. I needed to do something and, thankfully, I got a new contract.

“Now I feel I am back on form and full of confidence again. I want to play every minute of every game.”

Christiansen sends his side into this third round tie demanding a return to the form that saw them go unbeaten in their opening nine league and cup games of the campaign before last Saturday’s defeat at Millwall.

The Dane, 44, said: “There are priorities for us, but I want to pass to the next round of this competition. All games should be taken seriously, there are no small games.

“We lost our identity at Millwall because of a lack of possession. We weren’t able to adapt, but everyone has a bad day.

“We have to work hard to stay in our position. You get nothing for free, and we cannot lose all that we have now.

“We expect to continue doing well, and we are looking forward to playing Burnley. But we have to improve from our last game.”